Five
Nina shivered in the back seat of Creed’s SUV, despite the balmy September temperatures.
Listening as the two men calmly discussed who was behind these shootings hit hard.
She didn’t believe her Uncle Mark had been involved in drugs, and she still thought the gunman had targeted her, not the two rangers.
She understood, though, that they needed to consider all possibilities.
It was very different being involved with the rangers out in the field, rather than simply supporting them through phone calls and texts.
The echo of gunfire still reverberated through her mind to the point she wanted to stick her fingers in her ears.
It was only her imagination, but she couldn’t seem to shut down her thoughts.
Being this close to danger was unnerving.
Yet she was touched by Jackson and Creed’s willingness to surround her with their cloak of protection.
She was one of them. It hadn’t really felt like that before, but Jackson’s comment had struck a chord deep within. She liked being a part of their group.
And even though she had been burned in the past with Sean, she liked Jackson, far more than she should.
“We’ll find a place outside of Dallas,” Creed said, breaking into her thoughts.
“That sounds good.” Jackson glanced at her, then added, “We’ll need connecting rooms so Nina can have her privacy.”
She smiled in gratitude. Not that she didn’t trust Jackson and Creed; she did. But having some downtime would be good.
“Works for me,” Creed agreed.
“Hey, there’s a hotel that has suites for a reasonable price.” Jackson looked up from where he was working his phone. “It’s in Forney, and according to their website, they have plenty of rooms available.”
Normally it would be Nina who would find them a place to stay. She suddenly felt naked without her phone. “Any chance I can get a replacement phone?”
Jackson glanced at her. “A disposable phone, yes. Something tied to your name, no. And it’s too late to grab one tonight. We’ll get that done tomorrow.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
They drove in silence for another fifteen minutes. When Creed slowed near their destination, she was glad to see the hotel Jackson had chosen was nicer than she’d expected.
“Stay here.” Creed put the gearshift into Park and pushed his door open. “I’ll get the room.”
Jackson didn’t argue. When Creed headed inside, he shifted in his seat to face her. “How are you holding up?”
“Fine.” She forced a smile. “I wish we had a computer, though, so I could work on digging into Anna Lange.”
“I’m sure Creed has his device.” Jackson’s dark eyes held hers. “Do you know how old your mother was when she had you?”
“I don’t have a date of birth.” Another question she’d hoped to ask her Uncle Mark.
“But according to my adopted parents, she was pretty young, possibly only eighteen or nineteen. I’m assuming she was from Dallas, where her body was found.
Especially since she’d been crawling toward the fire station. ”
He frowned. “That seems logical, but it’s still odd that nobody reported her missing.”
“I agree.” She sighed. “It won’t be easy to find her since social media wasn’t nearly as prevalent twenty-eight years ago, the way it is now. I’ll start with Anna Lange in Dallas and see what I can come up with. Hopefully she lived there, since that’s where she was found.”
Jackson smiled encouragingly. “You’re a pro, Nina. You’ll find her.”
His praise warmed her heart, and she forced herself to look away. No point in thinking of Jackson as anything other than a colleague. Getting too close would be a disaster.
Too bad she found it difficult to ignore him. She reminded herself that dating a ranger was foolish. A path to heartbreak.
She startled when Creed opened the driver’s-side door. She hadn’t heard or seen him approach.
Get a grip, she silently admonished herself. Stay focused on what matters.
“We’re set.” Creed slid behind the wheel. “We have a nice two-bedroom suite. One has double queen beds. The other room has a king.”
“Perfect.” Jackson gave a satisfied nod. “Let’s get inside.”
Creed drove around to a side entrance. He parked, then handed over the keys. She took hers and pushed out of the back seat. She didn’t have a change of clothes, or anything else for that matter, but she reminded herself that being safe was all that mattered.
As Creed opened the back hatch, she went back to join him. “Do you have a laptop?”
“How did I know you were going to ask?” He grinned and handed her the device. “Do your thing, Nina.”
“Thanks.” Tucking the device under her arm, she followed the rangers inside.
The room was nice, but despite the roominess of the suite, she was far too aware of Jackson’s presence. She carried the laptop to the table and plugged it in.
“Anyone hungry?” Creed plucked the room service menu from the table.
“I am. Nina?” Jackson arched a brow.
“Sure.” She accepted the menu Creed passed to her. After everything that they’d been through, she thought it best to eat when the opportunity arose. “I’ll have the grilled chicken wrap.”
“Great.” Creed passed the menu to Jackson. “I’ll have the barbecued ribs.”
“I’ll call in our order.” Jackson eyed the menu as he picked up the phone.
Nina booted up the computer and took a moment to connect to the hotel internet. From there, though, she rerouted the IP address to hide their location. This was a new strategy they’d started using months ago, and it provided an additional level of security.
Once that was finished, she began searching for Anna Lange in the Dallas personal records system. When she did the search without a birth year, the system spun in circles because there were too many Anna Langes. So she tried again with an estimated birth year of forty-six years ago.
Nothing came up. She tried to narrow down the month, starting with January. Still no match. She was meticulously working through the months when she heard Jackson’s phone ring.
She looked away from the screen, wondering if their boss was following up with them. But when Jackson crossed to the kitchen table, she pushed the laptop to the side.
“Yes, Nina is here with me. I’ll put you on speaker.
” Jackson lowered his phone and hit a button before setting it on the table between them.
Creed stood off to the side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Jackson held her gaze.
“Go ahead, Deputy Green. Tell us what you’ve uncovered. ”
“We got a hit in the system on Mark Lange’s fingerprints,” Green said. “We’ve confirmed his ID. There’s no question that the dead man is Mark Lange. But I thought you should know that Lange has a criminal record.”
Nina gasped, shocked by the news. “What kind of criminal record?”
“Mark Lange spent twenty years in prison for drug trafficking and the attempted murder of a police officer. He’s been out for over eight years, and was released from parole three years ago.
To be honest, there’s no address associated with Lange since he was released from parole.
Whatever he’s been doing, he stayed off the grid. ”
Twenty years for attempted murder of a police officer and drug trafficking.
The words knocked around in Nina’s mind like ping-pong balls.
She pressed her fingertips into her temples, wondering if her mother had been killed because of her Uncle Mark’s drug connections.
Had her uncle testified against his fellow drug dealers?
Was that the reason her mother had been beaten and shot in the abdomen?
If so, it made sense that her uncle had claimed to be responsible for her mother’s murder.
* * *
Jackson wasn’t entirely surprised to learn Mark Lange had a criminal record, but from the dazed expression on Nina’s face, she was taking the news hard. He turned his attention back to Deputy Green. “Did the techs find anything else of interest at the cabin or the motel?”
“Nothing but shell casings.” Green sounded tired. “Without a license plate for the truck, we’re stuck.”
Jackson hated to admit the deputy was right. And knowing Mark Lange had drug connections made him reconsider their theory. “Maybe one of Lange’s old drug runner buddies went after him to extract revenge.”
“That makes sense to me,” Green agreed. “But since it’s your case now, you’ll have to take it from here.”
“Not a problem. All I need to know is when the autopsy on Lange will be performed.”
“ME said he’d do that first thing in the morning. Do you want his number?”
“Yes, please.” Jackson scribbled the medical examiner’s phone number on a scrap of hotel paper. “Thanks. I’ll get in touch with him tomorrow.”
“Later.” With that, Green ended the call.
“Twenty years in prison,” Nina murmured.
He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure out who killed your uncle. And find these gunmen who have come after you.”
“Yeah. I guess.” Her expression was one of concern. “I still think they’re coming after me because of my mother’s murder.”
Jackson didn’t necessarily agree, but he squeezed her shoulder, understanding the news was troubling. “We’ll figure it out. We don’t know how the gunmen discovered your connection to your Uncle Mark.”
“Maybe they tapped his phone. Or just hid nearby to hear his side of the calls.” She frowned. “He was so paranoid about what he wanted to tell me. I thought for sure it was about my mother’s murder.”
“It probably was, but now that we know he was in prison because with a drug trafficking charge, we need to consider the drug dealers were concerned your Uncle Mark had confided in you about his drug connections. Especially if one of them killed her. That would explain why they decided you had to die along with him.”
“I was running late for our meeting.” Nina abruptly pressed her palms against her eyes. “If I hadn’t been late…”